I’m absolutely over the moon to announce that my work has been shortlisted in no less than 3 categories for the Saboteur 2019 UK Spoken Word Awards. I’ve been listed for Best Spoken Word Performer in the UK, Word Wise has been listed for ‘Best Regular Spoken Word Night’ and ‘Man Up’ by Restoke has been listed for ‘Best Collaborative Work’. We’d be wholeheartedly grateful if you could vote for these projects using this form: https://form.jotformeu.com/91033853215350

Reciting the We Are Derby poem to over 400 pupils @ Lawn Primary School

Ayup people!

So 2019 has definitely gotten off to a bang! I’ve been rushed off my boots with lots of education work. This includes my first ever requested encore in a school assembly to over 400 kids, who were chanting along to my We Are Derby Poem (See photo above). I’ve also enjoyed being one of the lead writers visiting schools on behalf of SLAMJAM in Lincolnshire. I’ve also recently been involved in the This Is Derby project on behalf of the wonderful team at Deda. I also held a series of workshops as a visiting lecturer at both Keele and Derby Universities.

The next instalment of last year’s ACE funded Travelling Band project (Constell8) is also off to a start! Keep checking back for more dates on that one! In March I put out a new live video for my poem COBWEBS from the February UNISLAM victory which has been getting some good reactions over social media, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKs596bNhU4&t=94s There’s also some footage of me reading some new material that was recorded live @ Side Gallery for the Small Town Inertia exhibition in Newcastle back in January, Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zExJzq05NGs&t=348s

I’m lucky enough to have had my new show accepted for a week-long run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the fantastic people at Laughing Horse. Our Man will feature from Monday 19th until Sunday 25th August at the aptly named Raging Bull from 6:00 PM each night. The show is made up of poems from my next collection of the same title that is due to be published through Burning Eye Books in July. The self-titled poem was published recently in the Morning Star newspaper and can be read here: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/poetry-picketline-our-man-1

I’m thrilled to report that the year has started in style as my ace University slam poetry team-mates and I, managed to finish FIRST PLACE in the 2019 UNISLAM finals. We saw off another 24 universities in what was a completely enjoyable and gruelling experience in equal measure. The standard of poetry was second-to-none and I firstly want to give a huge shoutout to our fellow finalists: Strathclyde, Durham, and Leeds Universities who finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively. Also a massive shoutout to all the other teams involved with particular mentions to: Leeds Becket, UEA, Derby (of course), Leicester DMU, Loughborough, Bath Spa and Sheffield, whom we all particularly bonded with over the weekend. Massive hats off to Toby Campion and his team of willing volunteers, judges, and hosts who truly made it a great event. The picture above is taken from the Grand Finals at the Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham, prior to our victory; hence my moody expression. Look out for us as we’ll be back performing at the Old Rep Theatre on Saturday 16th Feb, as well as the Hammer & Tongues final @ The Royal Albert Hall next year!

In other news I’ve been back at work at HMP Foston Hall and I’m happy to say we have some new group members who’ve been a pleasure to work with. Their poetry never ceases to amaze me and I look forward to more slick bars being presented. I’m also happy to announce that my next book and show Our Man is still on course for a July release via the wonderful people at Burning Eye Books I’m very proud of this one, expect a plethora of live dates around its release (more about this in due course). For now though I’m happy to confirm dates at The Chesterfields Labour Club on March 2nd and also cracking the seal on The Cheltenham Poetry Festival on April 25th! (see live page for details). There’s also some videos from my Pride Park performance back in December, which are linked underneath the picture below! I’ll also add them to the videos section! There’ll be a new studio version of We Are Derby along shortly with a stinking new video. I’ve not forgotten you Rams fans. Expect to hear my gob on Radio Derby’s Sportscene in the not-so-distant future as well! There’s also a nice review of my 2017 debut poetry collection The Best Of A Bad Situation from Write Out Loud head over to the review section to see that.

So on Monday 17th December I was invited by Derby County FC to recite my poem ‘We Are Derby’ live at Pride Park Stadium for the East Midlands Derby between Derby County & Nottingham Forest. Here’s a photo of me sound-checking the Friday before.

I’m happy to say I survived the onslaught of the Forest fans & smashed the poem out word-for-word. To perform to that many people provided a ridiculous buzz & I can’t thank the Rams fans enough for the gratitude they’ve shown for the poem. There’s a video of me performing it on the pitch at the game to follow so keep your eyes peeled for that. I also have reason to believe that this makes me the first ever poet to read at an East Midlands Derby, as well as many other possible claims to accolade! I’ve begun my investigations so I’ll keep you updated as to when my notoriety is confirmed 😉

I’m also happy to announce that my first date of 2019 is an opening for the exhibition of J. A. Mortram’s Small-Town-Inertia exhibition @The Fantastic Side Gallery in Newcastle.

In other news: I’m happy to say that I’ll be teaming up with a load more great artists for the second phase of the Ace-funded Travelling band project; ‘Constellations’ will start in 2019 so keep your eyes peeled for that.

As I undertake the final year of my MA studies, I’ll also be performing as part of the University of Birmingham Slam poetry team in the Unislam finals in February.

I’m not even gonna apologies for a lack of blog posts-life has simply got in the way!

2018 in short has been great!

The year’s highlights included a sell-out run of shows for the production of ‘Man-Up’, which I worked on with Restoke. A film of the production is forthcoming, hit this link for more info: https://www.restoke.org.uk/man-up/

I also got asked by my beloved Derby County FC to write a new motivational poem at the request of none other than Frank Lampard. The poem ‘We Are Derby’ has been featured on the big screen at Pride Park at every home game since 21st August! I’ll post a link to the Steve Bloomer’s washing podcast of me reading the poem in the video/audio section of this website. Here’s an interview I did with Owen Bradley for RAMS TV here: https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2018/09/meet-the-local-poet-behind-we-are-derby

Been a hectic year so far with a lot more to come. Thoroughly recent appearances @ both Long Division Festival, Wakefield with loads of ace poets, hosted by Simon Widdop & Derby Book Festival with the amazing Salena Godden.

I recently finished a residency at Milestone House & have just started another @ The Bosnian & Multicultural Centre in Derby. Plenty more exciting workshops coming up as well.

The Man-Up project I’ve been lead writer on with the fantastic RESTOKE has now confirmed live dates! Check the Live page for information on this!

It’s all been a bit hectic here (in a good way). Had a brilliant night performing for the first time at ‘Unity Words’ in Wakefield. Was great to see Maria Ferguson for the first time, she’s an ace poet, so if you haven’t checked her out yet then do it!! Also enjoyed plenty of other great shows throughout June including my hometown launch of my book which I’m pleased to say was a rowdy and rammed event!!

In terms of the education stuff I’ve just started doing the summer course along with my good buddy Rhythmical Mike for Derby County Community Trust and NCS. I also held some brilliant workshops with the year 9’s from Noel Baker Academy as well as doing a motivational Speech for ex-offenders with the fantastic High-5 Recruitment. Plenty more work lined-up and some exciting times ahead. Get in touch if you need any creative workshops running.

I have some great gigs coming up this month including a headline slot @Word Life in Sheffield, Check the live section for more information. The awesome Raymond Antrobus also visits Word Wise in Derby this month along with Antony R. Owen and many other great poets.

Finally there’s a couple of nice new reviews of my collection ‘The Best Of A Bad Situation’ from the lovely people at ‘The Morning Star’ and ‘The Triumph of Now’ Head over to the reviews section to see more!

I’ll be doing plenty of live performances throughout June to celebrate the release including Spoken Weird in Halifax on June 1st, The Belper Goes Green Festival on June 4th, A Silhouette Press special with fellow Press mates Andrea Mbarushimana & Jonathan Pinnock @Hausman’s Radical Book Shop, Kings Cross, London on June 6th, My hometown Book Launch Party @ The Maypole Inn, Derby on June 16th & Speech Therapy in Nottingham on June 22nd & A Feature Slot @ Unity Words, Wakefield On June 28th. I’ll also be taking part in a Heritage Lottery funded show @ St.Peters Church in Derby on Friday June 23rd as part of The Green Lane Regeneration Project as well as June’s instalment of Word Wise (Which has now received an offer for Arts Council Funding) featuring the excellent Genevieve L. Walsh & Matt Mcateer. So Yes indeed it’s going to be a busy fun-packed month!

There’s also more dates planned for July onwards. I’ve also had a poem from my second collection (Currently being completed) in the latest edition of Glove: https://twitter.com/glovelitzine?lang=en There’s been some great reviews of “The Best Of A Bad Situation” Including this beauty right here by Storge: (there’s also more in the Press section of this site)